


Finale

by xusu



Category: Mother 3
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Familial Love, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Introspection, Suicide, the 3 others briefly appear but it’s mainly between lucas and claus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 04:07:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20129089
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xusu/pseuds/xusu
Summary: Claus does what he feels he must do to save the world and himself.





	Finale

**Author's Note:**

> it’s angst time babey!!!!!  
i saw the “died in your arms tonight” section of the tvtropes mother 3 page and the way it was worded hurt me so much and inspired me to really milk the final scene with the twins because all we saw in canon was dialogue over a black screen.  
on a side note.. i wonder how people write SO MUCH and fill it in with paragraphs of stuffing yet not break the pace of things or become repetitive. my stories in the end look so much shorter than i thought they were when i was writing them.
> 
> major spoilers ahead obviously

He’d been through it twice before. Claus knew exactly what he was doing when he sent that lightning arcing at his brother’s badge.  
Rebounding off the shiny metallic surface, it struck him back just as quickly as he had fired it. Claus knew he was supposed to die long ago.

The pain would have been unbearable to anyone else, but to him it was simply as if someone had extinguished a cigarette on his bare skin as opposed to the agony of his emotional stitches being ripped open once again. Claus was fully at peace with his course of actions. No more lacerations of his fragmented psyche. No worrying about relapsing into to a puppeteered automaton. No more putting himself directly in the line of being a hazard to the formation of a new world for all those who are left suffering. The lightning rode through body starting from the heart—directly transverse from the placement of Lucas’s badge—and from there split into his arms, his legs, his head, like the intricate form of tree branches. Each hair follicle stood on end at the discharge, but he didn’t speak a word or shriek of any pain. His eyes were closed, arms raised halfway in utter acceptance; he was content.

There was no going back. As the blinding light from the shock faded, Lucas removed the arm that covered his face and gazed at his twin. Claus’s body was smouldered. The boy was standing back hunched and motionless, legs apart, arms still somewhat lifted. He wasn’t smiling, yet he wasn’t frowning either. His engines, whatever had been keeping him alive all this time, were for sure fried. As much as Lucas could heal him, Claus would do this time and time again just as easily.

Lucas was too afraid of what he was looking at to even move. The past three years of his life had been nothing but hell, and he felt simply numb. He wanted to cry. He wanted to cry so bad, but the tears he desperately pleaded to come out of hiding under bedrock would never follow through. It’s as if they couldn’t meet the emotional demand.

Claus finally decided to initiate closing in between them. With lightheaded steps, the boy slowly staggered towards Lucas.

Upon Claus approaching him, Lucas saw the life essence of Claus slowly begin to drain from his eyes. The circles under his eyes were purple, contrasting his ghastly pale complexion. Lucas could feel his psychic connection grow stronger as the footfalls approached. Whether this was an attempt by his mind to prepare himself for the oncoming emotional labor like psychic adrenaline, or if it was the actual extrasensory connection the PK Love twins shared, was negligible.

All Claus was focused on was getting to his younger twin. Once he was within arm’s length, he leaned forward and secured his arms around Lucas’s neck, propping them right on his shoulders. His left hand cradled the back of Lucas’s head tenderly, fingers weakly latching between the locks of the boy’s blonde hair. Lucas’s head was sweaty, but Claus couldn’t have cared any less. All he wanted was just to cling to his sibling as life support. They remembered each other’s scent.

Noticing how weak Claus was becoming on his feet, Lucas softly settled with him onto the floor of the cavern, left hand gently supporting Claus’s head as it lay just below his collarbone, and his other hand on top of his brother’s right one, securing it against Claus’s chest. The light from the needle was the only thing in the cavern miles below the earth that illuminated the contours of their faces as they basked in its radiance, something of a holy moment for them both.  
“_I've got you._” Lucas spoke barely above a whisper; Claus felt the vibration regardless. He breathed deeply, hoping Claus would follow suit.

Claus mimicked him and took the deepest breath he could, which was more shallow than Lucas had hoped for, and at last opened his mouth to speak.  
“I’m sorry it turned out like this,” he murmured, his voice sounding dry and broken as though he hadn’t worked his vocal chords in years. Such might have just been the case.  
“I’m really happy,” he whispered with a wistful smile, pausing to breathe, “You could be with me just before the end...”  
Silence fell amongst the both of them as they took in the moment. Lucas cradled him closer. Claus felt Hinawa’s embrace within his the shelter of his chest as well. They were like one.  
“...Thanks...”

To be able to feel the life force of his other half accelerate with emotions surging, heartbeat failing to feign his tolerance, as his own began to dwindle and become a numb stone laid heavy and ever-still in his chest, was poetic. Claus understood the upset, the confusion, the betrayal he might have caused once again. This would be the last time. With feeble touch, he reached his stray hand to Lucas’s cheek and wiped with his thumb the tears that were beginning to pool and soon break.  
“Don’t...” Claus pleaded. “I don’t want to see you sad like this right before I leave. It’s going to be okay.”  
Lucas swallowed, and it hurt.

“Dad.” Claus and Lucas gazed at their father. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen.”  
Flint didn’t want to interrupt the boys having their much needed moment, but he knelt down and affectionately tousled his eldest son’s hair.  
“You’re forgiven.”  
He stood back up to give them some space. Mostly because it was hard to see his boy like that up close.

Claus looked right back into Lucas’s eyes, speaking directly to his soul.  
“I’m so lucky... to have such a gentle and caring person for a brother. Promise me you will be strong and pull the last needle... all right?”  
“Okay...”  
Claus closed his eyes, feeling the exhaustion overtake him. Lucas felt his chest still rising and falling, very softly, as if he were just sleeping and not dying in his arms. He looked so peaceful.  
“I’m going... to where mom is now.” Claus breathed.  
“Lucas.”  
Lucas listened carefully, having to lean over Claus to hear his words.  
“I hope...” His voice was becoming frailer, “_I hope we meet again someday._”  
“I... we will. I promise.” With quivering hands, Lucas gently rubbed his brother’s head that laid against his chest. Lucas tucked a strand of hair that fell over Claus’s face behind his ear so he could get a better look at him.

Claus looked around at Lucas and his family one last time, with his eyes glossy. “_Bye... thank you._”  
He listened to his twin’s grief-stricken heart race in disbelief.  
“_I’m sorry..._” He truly didn’t want his brother upset like this again.  
“_You know that I love you..._”  
“I love you too, Claus...” Lucas choked, voice squeaking from the lump in his throat. Claus gave a sweet, wistful smile.  
“_I’m sure we’ll meet again._” He whispered with hardly anything left of his voice.

Claus shut his eyes, unable to keep them open anymore. His head felt heavy against Lucas, who cradled him tightly. Lucas held his hand over his brother’s chest and felt his slow, shallow breaths up until the final one ceased.  
Duster and Kumatora silently put their hand on his shoulders.


End file.
